A Once and Future Princess
by bucky barnes is ma bae
Summary: After her kingdom was burned down by an envious sorceress, Princess Scientia is left stranded in the wilderness - until a handsome prince finds her.


I lingered in the field of grass, sitting halfway up a little slope, which was like a little ridge, on the bottom of the world. I saw that the orange clouds had tried to catch the fading Sun, but the clouds had now given up. They were gloomy and still, as if an artist had stroked them upon the canvas sky. The air was warm and the soft, emerald grass swayed in the calm wind. But I felt nothing.

I sat with my legs bent in front of me, pressed up against my chest with my arms wrapped around my knees. My faded red dress was in shreds at the bottom of it and I had scratches on my arms. I was ice cold, despite the climate. But my tears were hot. I stared into the sun's dying eyes. I thought that I too shall die soon. That brought me think about my kingdom. My parents were dead. I started weeping more and I could hear myself doing so, but I didn't care; no one couldhear me cry. No one could hear me if I screamed. The only friend I had was the clouds.

Strangely, all of a sudden, I felt some kind of a presence. It felt as though I wasn't alone, that someone was… with me. My mind was in tangles; I don't know why I felt this presence, I didn't see, hear, smell, taste or feelanything. Then I heard – like I had just been woken up – a boy's voice say "Hello", as if he were asking a question. His voice was deep and warm, and he sounded around my age – late teens. It startled me and I quickly looked behind to my right: I thought I saw a boy who appeared to be wearing something shiny. I wasn't completely sure though, it was difficult to see through my dark hair covering my eyes and I only looked for a fraction of a second. I didn't care, if, for some reason he wanted to hurt me or kill me or anything, because I was as good as dead. However, I still carried my dignity and didn't want anybody to see me cry – especially boys - especially handsome boys.

I hid my face in my hands as he approached me from behind. I was trembling in fear and struggled to breathe. I was practically hyperventilating. He crouched down on my right side in front of me and asked in his gentle voice, "Are you alright?" I didn't respond because 1. He was a stranger. 2. I was not alright. 3. I was really, really shy (although, only in this particular moment in time) and 4. Because he was a boy, who, I must say, seemed handsome, judging by his gentle-but-seductive voice. I tried hard not to make those embarrassing gasping noises during a crying fit, but failed. He could obviously hear me – it was almost silent apart from the noise of the mild wind moving through the grass. I turned my head to the left, in an attempt to avoid him. Even though it was humiliating, I _did_ want him to be there, whoever he was. He seemed like a person who cared: and that's exactly what I needed.

I uncontrollably quivered and he slowly said "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you." My eyes, and only my eyes - the rest of my face remained hidden - momentarily looked up at him. That's where the shininess came from - his armor. I didn't see much, but I saw silver armour, radiating the orange sunlight. It occurred to me that he might've been a knight or something – it seemed like good-quality armor! He might've seen my weeping eyes, but all I could do was hope not.

The boy leaned over towards me and guaranteed me, "If you tell me what's wrong, I can help you." That's when I realized I was acting like a little girl and I needed to toughen up. I was scared to look at him, but I knew that if I didn't reply soon, he might've just walked away and left me to die. Eventually my rational thinking overpowered my irrational fear and I looked up at him – no more hiding - for real this time.

My heart stopped beating as my eyes stopped blinking. Everything strangely slowed down, almost frozen in time. The world around us evaporated into a colorful nothingness. I was in a dream, floating, a cloud on a continuum of sky that had no horizon, no dimensions, no air to breathe. Just a rush of darkness that went straight through me, not allowing me to find the oxygen I so desperately needed. I didn't even have a body to take in oxygen. It was just the cloud and the boy who made time and space – relative to me – cease to exist.

I can't even begin to describe how beautiful he was, but I'll try: He looked fit, not too skinny and not too muscular, but rather, just right. Just the right height too, he would have been a bit taller than me – the top of my head would have reached his jaw. His short, straight fluffy hair, golden (blonde) in the lighting of the early-summer evening. His creamy-white skin, soft and luscious, was tempting me. The far right side of his face glowing with the pretty orange sunshine, well at least he made it pretty. His lips, pastel red, seemingly puckered up made me want to you-know-what. And what color were his eyes? You guessed it – the color of the sky on a warm summer's day - blue. Not just blue, deeeeep blue. As soon as I looked up at him, it was like a laser beam burning a hole in my heart.

I sure tried to look as though I didn't think he was attractive: I was quite shy when it came to boys, but _this_ boy just took my heart and ran away with it. I'd forgotten about my recent crying episode, but we had already been staring deep into each other's eyes for long enough for him to see. I can't be sure, but he looked in a way surprised when he saw me too, but I was a mess in a – well - dress. There was no way in hell I would have caught his eye. Regardless, he seemed like he snapped out of a trance and asked "What's your name?" It took me a moment to respond, as I was very much distracted by his beauty (and hotness – I _must_ say). "My name is Scientia", I answered.

"Scientia, my name is Arthur Pendragon, prince of Camelot, at your service."

So, his name was Arthur... hmm, I never thought I'd fall for a boy named Arthur, but that prophecy was now unrealistic. And as far as him being a prince - wow. Although that bit of knowledge didn't make me feel much more nervous than before. Side note: considering how tender he'd been towards me, he would've been at my service anyway. Even if I wasn't a princess. Even if he weren't a prince.

Then I remembered: Camelot. My parents told me, a long time ago, that King Uther of Camelot did not tolerate magic. The punishment was execution. As long as Uther ruled Camelot, I would have no place there. Now I felt even more afraid, I thought that _finally_ I'd met someone who I could trust, but that thought disintegrated back to nothing. So obviously, I couldn't tell him the absolute truth about my story, I would have to play dumb.

"Tell me what happened." I didn't know what to say, but finally came to say, "It's a long story". He replied, "I'm not going" and looked up and around "anywhere" and looked back at me, implying that I should tell him my story. I took a deep breath, "Well…" I started, nervously, and then said aggressively slowly "I'm… I was… princess of Sagax." He raised his eyebrows and his jaw dropped, looking surprised. He leaned back, "Uh…" trying to find the words that would live up to a princess' expectations. "Princess Scientia", he said and bowed his head, keeping his eyes on me. _Finally, _I thought, _I feel like I'm worth something. _Back in my kingdom, Sagax, even my people didn't treat me with such respect.

_Well thank you_, I thought, flattered, and smiled at him; 90% with my eyes and 10% with the right corner of my lips. He smiled slightly back and placed one hand on the grass and lowered himself down. He sat moderately close to me, the sunlight now on the back of him. He sat with his legs bent and spread out (it's almost a characteristic of boys; they always sit with their legs spread!) with his arms resting on his knees and hands interlocked.

"You were saying?" he lasered me again. I looked away. There was a mild breeze of warm air. I could see the wave-like motion of the grass as I breathed in the summer-sunset-scented air. I don't know how I even _noticed_ the motion of the grass, considering that all the consciousness of my mind was focused on Arthur, and my loudly-beating heart.

I swallowed, "Well, I think… five days ago, I was, just… walking around, on the outskirts of my kingdom…" I felt the need to make eye contact, and you guessed it – my heart: BOOM! I started talking faster, "I don't really know what I was doing, I guess I just wanted to go for a walk." That last sentence made me feel like an idiot. I don't know, it just sounded stupid. But Arthur sort of smiled at me, like the way I smiled at him before – you know – 90% eyes, 10% lips. "And as I was walking through the forest…" I suddenly became overwhelmed and swallowed. "In the distance, I heard people screaming…" I could feel the tears starting to well up. I thought _oh god no, please tears, not in front of this boy_. "And it sounded like, a massive fire… So I ran back to the castle…" My vision became blurred due to the tears in my eyes. "And it was all… burning" My voice was cracking, just like my spirit. "I didn't know what to do. There was nothing I _could_ do." As I could tell from my peripheral vision, Arthur was just looking at me, sympathetically, feeling sorry for me. "So I just ran away. It was just… so horrible." I cracked it.

I buried my face in my hands and turned away to my left. The tears were just about to overflow and I fought them as though they were my worst enemy. He grasped my lower upper arms with his soft, warm hands. Adrenaline rushed through my veins. "Scientia, it's alright", he half whispered to me. He gently removed my hands away from my face – I was so weak I couldn't resist. My lips were sewn together, as I hoped that would act as a crying-prevention mechanism. Arthur held my arms again, sitting closer to me and more in front of me: at that angle he could see my face.

"Scientia, look at me", he said kindly. I breathed in and looked at the Sun floating halfway on the horizon behind him. Eventually I managed to look up into his blue eyes. He appeared concerned, which was sweet. Then came the tears: my right eye just couldn't hold the capacity. The tear slowly, loudly streamed down my face and of course, I turned away to the left. Arthur lightly shifted my fringe out of my face and I frantically closed my eyes.

I then turned right and another tear fell, this time from my left eye. My cry was quickly and softly, which sounded like a laugh, but surely didn't look like one. He let go of my left arm for a moment. Then I felt a soft kind of material dabbing away the tear on my cheek. I opened my eyes, confused, to see a blurry white blob. I realized it was Arthur, wiping away my tears with a cloth. I had an epiphany: he cared about me. I felt like I was the only girl in the world, and what a great feeling it was. It was as if my sadness was reserved in my tears – when I cried I was freeing my emotions and when Arthur wiped away my tears my sadness and my fear vanished.

"It's alright, Scientia", he assured me. "You're safe now." I somehow found the courage to look him in the eyes. Arthur placed his hand back on my arm, "You won't be alone anymore". I was wondering what he meant. The idea of me going back to Camelot with him visited my mind. "Really?" I questioned. "Yes" Arthur answered. He was still holding me and seemed rather close to me, but I liked it.

The Sun had lowered itself since Arthur and I had met. Dusk had arrived quickly. The Moon shone brightly behind me. In his eyes I could see the reflection of the now deep pink-and-orange clouds above us. The Earth was dark but with the moonlight and the clouds it was alight. It was a weird-but-wonderful feeling: It was the first time I'd seen a landscape and a sunset and a boy like this. New things like this always sort of mystified me. I also felt like I was in a dream, in paradise. Like I was finally free. I had this fantasy – of kissing him, there and then, slowly and passionately (although that would have been my first kiss) – but that would have to wait.

"You may come back to Camelot with me if you wish", he suggested, but that was not an option. And there it was – the first real smile that spread across my face like the clouds spread across the sky. "Oh, yes!", sounding like I accepted his date request. "I mean, I really need a place to live right now, I've got nowhere else to go… you're not joking are you?" Arthur's answer was, "No, not at all." "Thank you," I was reluctant to say his name due to my shyness towards him, but I was so happy I involuntarily blurted it out, "Arthur". I smiled at him and he smiled at me – a real smile, that was almost seductive, although he wasn't trying to be seductive – and not that it's of too much importance, but Arthur had really nice teeth. Arthur had a nice everything. Arthur was perfect.


End file.
